Between Professional and Orgamizational

The Changing Discourses of Medicine

Authors

  • Yrjö Engeström University of Helsinki

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v2.i3.351

Keywords:

health care organizations, medical discourse

Abstract

Western health care is undergoing deep transformation. Its direction and contents are contested and ambiguous. While hierarchical and market-driven models are the most widely used alternatives to organize the mass production of medical services, there is also an emerging direction that seeks team- and network-based models to achieve collaborative communities in health care organizations, often crossing institutional boundaries and creating new forms of interorganizational partnerships What is needed is historical and contextual sensitivity to the broad patterns of organizing health care that penetrate and shape discourse. In the articles of this special issue, the distinction between professional dominance and organizational or institutional policy plays an important role.

Author Biography

  • Yrjö Engeström, University of Helsinki

    Yrjö Engeström is Professor of Adult Education and Director of the Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research at University of Helsinki, Finland, and Professor Emeritus of Communication at University of California, San Diego. He applies and develops cultural-historical activity theory in interventionist studies of work, discourse and learning in health care and other organizational fields. His most recent book is From Teams to Knots: Activity-Theoretical Studies of Collaboration and Learning at Work (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

References

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Published

2008-04-11

Issue

Section

Reflections

How to Cite

Engeström, Y. (2008). Between Professional and Orgamizational: The Changing Discourses of Medicine. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 2(3), 351-356. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v2.i3.351

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